Were women worthless?

Let me guess – you think that women were worthless in New Testament times, having absolutely no rights and no money of their own. It’s a common conception – a common misconception, as a matter of fact. While it’s true that women were subordinate to their fathers and husbands in virtually every respect, the law did take some pains to protect them.

For example, every woman received a ketubbah and a dowry upon her marriage, both of which were hers to keep in the event of their divorce or his death. The ketubbah was paid by the groom to the brides father, and was controlled by her father. The dowry was the fathers gift to his daughter upon her marriage, and controlled by her husband, which could be given in the form of money or tangible goods such as furniture. She could also choose to renounce her ketubbah and dowry upon their divorce or his death, and be maintained by payments from her husbands estate. Because a husbands property was owed to his wife should he die, he could not sell any of it without her legal signature.

But of course women didn’t inherit – or did they? The ketubbah and the dowry were in fact considered the daughters portion of the inheritance, and the Bible established that a daughter could inherit if there were no sons alive. The rabbis, however, may have insisted that deceased sons with living offspring take precedence over the daughter. Whether the wife of a childless man could inherit upon his death is possible, but not proven. A woman was, however, able to receive gifts during her marriage that were hers to dispose of as she wished at any time, which entirely circumvented the inheritance issue.

Women were also permitted to work, but they only kept the money for themselves if they were divorced or widowed; married women or daughters under their fathers control earned contributions to the family income. I have to say, this doesn’t seem entirely unfair, since that’s what the man’s income went to as well. Women’s work could include selling goods such as bread and textiles, or performing services that included hairdressing, midwifery or professional mourning. This may explain how the disciples’ wives obtained money while their husbands followed Jesus around the countryside.

All of this contributes substantially toward understanding Luke 8:1b-3: The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and disease: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.”

Sources
Bauckham, Richard, Gospel Women, pages 121-135
Ilan, Tal, Jewish Women in Greco-Roman Palestine, pages 89-94

Note: You may also be interested in my Amazon.com list of books relating to women in the Gospels.